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<H1><FONT COLOR=#FF0000>Chapter 3</FONT></H1>
<H1><B><FONT SIZE=5 COLOR=#FF0000>Object-Oriented Programming with Java</FONT></B>
</H1>
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<P>
<H3 ALIGN=CENTER><FONT COLOR="#000000"><FONT SIZE=+2>CONTENTS<A NAME="CONTENTS"></A>
</FONT></FONT></H3>

<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#WhatIsOOP" >What Is OOP?</A>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#Objects" >Objects</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Classes" >Classes</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Encapsulation" >Encapsulation</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Messages" >Messages</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Inheritance" >Inheritance</A>
</UL>
<LI><A HREF="#OOPandGames" >OOP and Games</A>
<LI><A HREF="#JavaandOtherOOPLanguages" >Java and Other OOP Languages</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Summary" >Summary</A>
<LI><A HREF="#QA" >Q&amp;A</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Workshop" >Workshop</A>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#Quiz" >Quiz</A>
<LI><A HREF="#Exercises" >Exercises</A>
</UL>
</UL>
<HR>
<P>
<I>Object-oriented programming</I> (OOP) is a programming paradigm
that is fundamentally different from traditional procedural programming
styles. It is centered around the concept of objects-programming
constructs that have both properties and the procedures for manipulating
those properties. This approach models the real world much more
closely than conventional programming methods and is ideal for
the simulation-type problems commonly encountered in games.
<P>
You're probably already aware that Java is an object-oriented
language, but you might not fully understand what that means.
To successfully use Java to write Internet games, you need to
embrace object-oriented programming techniques and design philosophies.
The goal of today's lesson is to present the conceptual aspects
of object-oriented programming as they relate to Java. By the
end of today's lesson, you will fully understand what OOP means
to Java and maybe even have some new buzz words to share with
your friends! More important, you will gain some insight into
why the OOP paradigm built into Java is a perfect match for game
programming.
<P>
The following topics are covered in today's lesson:
<UL>
<LI>What is OOP?
<LI>OOP and games
<LI>Java and other OOP languages
</UL>
<H2><A NAME="WhatIsOOP"><B><FONT SIZE=5 COLOR=#FF0000>What Is
OOP?</FONT></B></A></H2>
<P>
If you've been anywhere near the computer section of a bookstore
or picked up a programming magazine in the last five years, you've
certainly seen the hype surrounding object-oriented programming.
It's the most popular programming technology to come about in
a long time, and it all revolves around the concept of an object.
The advent of Java has only served to elevate the hype surrounding
OOP. You might wonder what the big deal is with objects and object-oriented
technology? Is it something you should be concerned with, and
if so, why? Is it really that crucial when working with Java?
If you sift through the hype surrounding the whole object-oriented
issue, you'll find a very powerful technology that provides a
lot of benefits to software design.
<P>
But the question still remains: What is OOP? OOP is an approach
to programming that attempts to bridge the gap between problems
in the real world and solutions in the computer programming world.
Prior to OOP, a conceptual stumbling block always existed for
programmers when trying to adapt the real world into the constraints
imposed by a traditional programming language. In the real world,
people tend to think in terms of &quot;things,&quot; but in the
pre-OOP programming world  people have been taught to think in
terms of blocks of code (procedures) and how they act on data.
These two modes of thinking are very different from each other
and pose a significant problem when it comes to designing complex
systems that model the real world. Games happen to be very good
examples of complex systems that often model the real world.
<P>
OOP presents an approach to programming that allows programmers
to think in terms of objects, or things, much like people think
of things in the real world. Using OOP techniques, a programmer
can focus on the objects that naturally make up a system, rather
than trying to rationalize the system into procedures and data.
The OOP approach is a very natural and logical application of
the way humans already think.
<P>
The benefits of OOP go beyond easing the pain of resolving real
world problems in the computer domain. Another key issue in OOP
is code reuse, when you specifically design objects and programs
with the goal of reusing as much of the code as possible, whenever
possible. Fortunately, it works out that the fundamental approaches
to OOP design naturally encourage code reuse, meaning that it
doesn't take much of an extra effort to reuse code after you employ
standard OOP tactics.
<P>
The OOP design approach revolves around the following major concepts:
<UL>
<LI>Objects
<LI>Classes
<LI>Encapsulation
<LI>Messages
<LI>Inheritance
</UL>
<H3><A NAME="Objects"><B>Objects</B></A></H3>
<P>
<I>Objects</I> are bundles of data and the code, or procedures,
that act on that data.
<P>
The procedures in an object are also known as <I>methods</I>.
The merger of data and methods provides a means of more accurately
representing real-world objects. Modeling a real-world problem
through traditional programming constructs, without objects, requires
a significant logical leap. Objects, on the other hand, enable
programmers to solve real-world problems in the software domain
much more easily and logically.
<P>
As evident by the name, objects are at the heart of object-oriented
technology. To understand how software objects are beneficial,
think about the common characteristics of all real-world objects.
Lions, cars, and calculators all share two common characteristics:
state and behavior.
<P>
The <I>state</I> of an object is the condition that the object
is in, as defined by its attributes.
<P>
The <I>behavior</I> of an object is the collection of actions
that the object can take.
<P>
For example, the state of a lion might include color, weight,
and whether the lion is tired or hungry. Lions also have certain
behaviors such as roaring, sleeping, and hunting. The state of
a car includes the current speed, the type of transmission, whether
it is two- or four-wheel-drive, whether the lights are on, and
the current gear, among other things. The behaviors for a car
include turning, braking, and accelerating.
<P>
Just like real-world objects, software objects possess two common
characteristics: state and behavior. To relate this back to programming
terms, the <I>state</I> of an object is determined by its data
and the <I>behavior</I> of an object is defined by its methods.
By making this connection between real-world objects and software
objects, you begin to see how objects help bridge the gap between
the real world and the world of software living inside your computer.
<P>
Because software objects are modeled after real-world objects,
you can more easily represent real-world objects in object-oriented
programs. You could use the lion object to represent a real lion
in an interactive software zoo. Similarly, car objects would be
very useful in a racing game. However, you don't always have to
think of software objects as modeling physical real-world objects;
software objects can be just as useful for modeling abstract concepts.
For example, the standard Java API provides a thread object that
represents a stream of execution in a multithreaded program.
<P>
Figure 3.1 shows a visualization of a Java software object, including
the primary components and how they relate.
<P>
<A HREF="f3-1.gif" ><B>Figure 3.1 : </B><I>A software object.</I></A>
<P>
The software object in Figure 3.1 clearly shows the two primary
components of an object: data and methods. The figure also shows
some type of communication, or access, between the data and the
methods. Additionally, it shows how messages are sent through
the methods, which result in responses from the object. You'll
learn more about messages later today in the &quot;Messages&quot;
section.
<P>
The data and methods within an object express everything that
the object knows (state), along with what all it can do (behavior).
A software object modeling a real-world car would have variables
(data) that indicate the car's current state: it's traveling at
75 mph, it is in 4th gear, and the lights are on. The software
car object would also have methods that enable it to brake, accelerate,
steer, change gears, and turn the lights on and off. Figure 3.2
shows what a Java car object might look like.
<P>
<A HREF="f3-2.gif" ><B>Figure 3.2 : </B><I>A car object.</I></A>
<P>
In both Figures 3.1 and 3.2 you probably noticed the line separating
the methods from <BR>
the data within the object. This line is a little misleading,
because methods have full access to the data within an object.
The line is there to illustrate the difference between the visibility
of the methods and the data to the outside. In this sense, an
object's visibility refers to what parts of the object another
object has access to. Because object data defaults to being invisible,
or inaccessible to other objects, all interaction between objects
must be handled via methods. This hiding of data within an object
is called <I>encapsulation</I>.
<H3><A NAME="Classes"><B>Classes</B></A></H3>
<P>
Throughout this discussion of object-oriented programming, you've
only dealt with the concept of an object already existing in a
system. You might be wondering how objects get into a system in
the first place. This question brings you to the most fundamental
structure in object-oriented programming: the class.
<P>
A <I>class</I> is a template or prototype that defines a type
of object.
<P>
A class is to an object what a blueprint is to a house. Many houses
can be built from a single blueprint; the blueprint outlines the
makeup of the houses. Classes work exactly the same way, except
that they outline the makeup of objects.
<P>
In the real world, there are often many objects of the same kind.
Using the house analogy, there are many different houses around
the world, but as houses they all share common characteristics.
In object-oriented terms, you would say that your house is a specific
instance of the class of objects known as houses.
<P>
An <I>instance</I> of a class is an object that has been created
in memory using the class as a template. Instances are also sometimes
referred to as <I>instantiated objects</I>.
<P>
All houses have states and behaviors in common that define them
as houses. When a builder starts building a new development of
houses, he or she typically will build them all from a set of
blueprints. It wouldn't be as efficient to create a new blueprint
for every single house, especially when there are so many similarities
shared between each one. The same thing applies in object-oriented
software development; why rewrite a lot of code when you can reuse
code that solves similar problems?
<P>
In object-oriented programming, as in construction, it's also
common to have many objects of the same kind that share similar
characteristics. And like the blueprints for similar houses, you
can create blueprints for objects that share certain characteristics.
What it boils down to is that classes are software blueprints
for objects.
<P>
As an example, the class for the car object discussed earlier
would contain several variables representing the state of the
car, along with implementations for the methods that enable the
driver to control the car. The state variables of the car remain
hidden underneath the interface. Each instance, or instantiated
object, of the car class gets a fresh set of state variables.
This brings you to another important point: When an instance of
an object is created from a class, the variables declared by that
class are allocated in memory. The variables are then modified
via the object's methods. Instances of the same class share method
implementations but have their own <I>object data</I>. Classes
can also contain class data.
<P>
<I>Object data</I>, or <I>instance data</I>, is the information
that models an object's state. Each object in memory has its own
set of instance data, which determines what state the object is
in.
<P>
<I>Class data</I> is data that is maintained on a class-wide basis,
independent of any objects that have been created.
<P>
There is only one instance of class data in memory no matter how
many objects are created from the class. Class data is typically
used to store common information that needs to be shared among
all instances of a class. A common example of class data is a
count of how many instantiated objects exist of a particular class.
When a new object is created, the count is incremented, and when
an existing object is destroyed, the count is decremented.
<P>
Objects provide the benefits of modularity and information hiding,
whereas classes provide the benefit of reusability. Just as the
builder reuses the blueprint for a house, the software developer
reuses the class for an object. Software programmers can use a
class over and over again to create many objects. Each of these
objects gets its own data but shares a single method implementation.
<H3><A NAME="Encapsulation"><B>Encapsulation</B></A></H3>
<P>
<I>Encapsulation</I> is the process of packaging an object's data
together with its methods.
<P>
A powerful benefit of encapsulation is the hiding of implementation
details from other objects. This means that the internal portion
of an object has more limited visibility than the external portion.
<P>
The external portion of an object is often referred to as the
object's interface, because it acts as the object's interface
to the rest of the program. Because other objects must communicate
with the object only through its interface, the internal portion
of the object is protected from outside tampering. And because
an outside program has no access to the internal implementation
of an object, the internal implementation can change at any time
without affecting other parts of the program.
<P>
Encapsulation provides two primary benefits to programmers: 
<UL>
<LI>Implementation hiding
<LI>Modularity
</UL>
<P>
<I>Implementation hiding</I> refers to the protection of the internal
implementation of an object.
<P>
An object is composed of a public interface and a private section
that can be a combination of internal data and methods. The internal
data and methods are the sections of the object that can't be
accessed from outside the object. The primary benefit is that
these sections can change without affecting programs that use
the object.
<P>
<I>Modularity</I> means that an object can be maintained independently
of other objects.
<P>
Because the source code for the internal sections of an object
is maintained separately from the interface, you are free to make
modifications and feel confident that your object won't cause
problems. This makes it easier to distribute objects throughout
a system, which is a crucial point when it comes to Java and the
Internet.
<H3><A NAME="Messages"><B>Messages</B></A></H3>
<P>
An object acting alone is rarely very useful; most objects require
other objects to really do anything. For example, the car object
is pretty useless by itself with no other interaction. Add a driver
object, however, and things get more interesting! Knowing this,
it's pretty clear that objects need some type of communication
mechanism in order to interact with each other.
<P>
Software objects interact and communicate with each other via
<I>messages</I>. When the driver object wants the car object to
accelerate, it sends a message to the car object. If you want
to think of messages more literally, think of two people as objects.
If one person wants the other person to come closer, they send
the other person a message. More accurately, one might say to
the other person &quot;come here, please.&quot; This is a message
in a very literal sense. Software messages are a little different
in form, but not in theory; they tell an object what to do. In
Java, the act of sending an object a message is actually carried
out by calling a method of the object. In other words, methods
are the mechanism through which messages are sent to objects in
the Java environment.
<P>
Many times, the receiving object needs more information along
with a message so that it knows exactly what to do. When the driver
tells the car to accelerate, the car must know by how much. This
information is passed along with the message as message <I>parameters</I>.
<P>
From this discussion, you can see that messages consist of three
things.
<OL>
<LI>The object to receive the message (car)
<LI>The name of the action to perform (accelerate)
<LI>Any parameters the method requires (15 mph)
</OL>
<P>
These three components are sufficient information to fully describe
a message for an object. Any interaction with an object is handled
by passing a message. This means that objects anywhere in a system
can communicate with other objects solely through messages.
<P>
Just so you don't get confused, understand that &quot;message
passing&quot; is another way of saying &quot;method calling.&quot;
When an object sends another object a message, it is really just
calling a method of that object. The message parameters are actually
the parameters to a method. In object-oriented programming, messages
and methods are synonymous.
<P>
Because everything that an object can do is expressed through
its methods (interface), message passing supports all possible
interactions between objects. In fact, interfaces enable objects
to send messages to and receive messages from each other even
if they reside in different locations on a network. Objects in
this scenario are referred to as <I>distributed objects</I>. Java
is specifically designed to support distributed objects.
<H3><A NAME="Inheritance"><B>Inheritance</B></A></H3>
<P>
What happens if you want an object that is very similar to one
you already have, but with a few extra characteristics? You just
derive a new class based on the class of the similar object.
<P>
<I>Inheritance</I> is the process of creating a new class with
the characteristics of an existing class, along with additional
characteristics unique to the new class.
<P>
Inheritance provides a powerful and natural mechanism for organizing
and structuring programs.
<P>
So far, the discussion of classes has been limited to the data
and methods that make up a class. Based on this understanding,
you build all classes from scratch by defining all of the data
and all of the associated methods. Inheritance provides a means
to create classes based on other classes. When a class is based
on another class, it inherits all of the properties of that class,
including the data and methods for the class. The class doing
the inheriting is referred to as the <I>subclass</I> (child class)
and the class providing the information to inherit is referred
to as the <I>superclass</I> (parent class).
<P>
<CENTER><TABLE BORDERCOLOR=#000000 BORDER=1 WIDTH=80%>
<TR><TD><B>Note</B></TD></TR>
<TR><TD>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Child classes are sometimes referred to as <I>descendants</I>, and parent classes are sometimes referred to as <I>ancestors</I>. The family tree analogy works quite well for describing inheritance.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE></CENTER>
<P>
<P>
Using the car example, gas-powered cars and cars powered by electricity
can be child classes inherited from the car class. Both new car
classes share common &quot;car&quot; characteristics, but they
also have a few characteristics of their own. The gas car would
have a fuel tank and a gas cap, and the electric car might have
a battery and a plug for recharging. Each subclass inherits state
information (in the form of variable declarations) from the superclass.
Figure 3.3 shows the car parent class with the gas and electric
car child classes.
<P>
<A HREF="f3-3.gif" ><B>Figure 3.3 : </B><I>Inherited car objects.</I></A>
<P>
The real power of inheritance is the ability to inherit properties
and add new ones; subclasses can have variables and methods in
addition to the ones they inherit from the superclass. Remember,
the electric car has an additional battery and a recharging plug.
Subclasses also have the capability to override inherited methods
and provide different implementations for them. For example, the
gas car would probably be able to go much faster than the electric
car. The accelerate method for the gas car could reflect this
difference.
<P>
Class inheritance is designed to allow as much flexibility as
possible. You can create inheritance trees as deep as necessary
to carry out your design. An inheritance tree, or class hierarchy,
looks much like a family tree; it shows the relationships between
classes. Unlike a family tree, the classes in an inheritance tree
get more specific as you move down the tree. The car classes in
Figure 3.3 are a good example of an inheritance tree.
<P>
By using inheritance, you've learned how subclasses can allow
specialized data and methods in addition to the common ones provided
by the superclass. This enables programmers to reuse the code
in the superclass many times, thus saving extra coding effort
and therefore eliminating potential bugs.
<P>
One final point to make in regard to inheritance: It is possible
and sometimes useful to create superclasses that act purely as
templates for more usable subclasses. In this situation, the superclass
serves as nothing more than an abstraction for the common class
functionality shared by the subclasses. For this reason, these
types of superclasses are referred to as <I>abstract classes</I>.
An abstract class cannot be instantiated, meaning that no objects
can be created from an abstract class. An abstract class cannot
be instantiated because parts of it have been specifically left
unimplemented. More specifically, these parts are made up of methods
that have yet to be implemented, which are referred to as abstract
methods.
<P>
Using the car example once more, the accelerate method really
can't be defined until the car's acceleration capabilities are
known. Of course, how a car accelerates is determined by the type
of engine it has. Because the engine type is unknown in the car
superclass, the accelerate method could be defined but left unimplemented,
which would make both the accelerate method and the car superclass
abstract. Then the gas and electric car child classes would implement
the accelerate method to reflect the acceleration capabilities
of their respective engines or motors.
<P>
<CENTER><TABLE BORDERCOLOR=#000000 BORDER=1 WIDTH=80%>
<TR><TD><B>Note</B></TD></TR>
<TR><TD>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
The discussion of inheritance naturally leads to the concept of <I>polymorphism</I>, which is the notion of an object having different forms. Using polymorphism, it is possible to have objects with similar interfaces but different responses to method 
calls. In this way, an object is able to maintain its original interface within a program while taking on a different form.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE></CENTER>
<P>
<H2><A NAME="OOPandGames"><B><FONT SIZE=5 COLOR=#FF0000>OOP and
Games</FONT></B></A></H2>
<P>
So far, I've talked a lot about the general programming advantages
of using objects to simplify complex programming tasks, but I
haven't talked too much about how they specifically apply to games.
To understand how you can benefit from OOP design methods as a
game pro-grammer, you must first take a closer look at what a
game really is.
<P>
Think of a game as a type of abstract simulation. If you think
about most of the games you've seen or played, it's almost impossible
to come up with one that isn't simulating something. All the adventure
games and sports games, and even the far-out space games, are
modeling some type of objects present in the real world (maybe
not <I>our</I> world, but <I>some</I> world nevertheless). Knowing
that games are models of worlds, you can make the connection that
most of the things (landscapes, creatures, and so on) in games
correspond to things in these worlds. And as soon as you can organize
a game into a collection of &quot;things,&quot; you can apply
OOP techniques to the design. This is possible because things
can be translated easily into objects in an OOP environment.
<P>
Look at an OOP design of a simple adventure game as an example.
In this hypothetical adventure game, the player controls a character
around a fantasy world and fights creatures, collects treasure,
and so on. You can model all the different aspects of the game
as objects by creating a hierarchy of classes. After you design
the classes, you create them and let them interact with each other
just as objects do in real life.
<P>
The world itself probably would be the first class you design.
The world class would contain information such as its map and
images that represent a graphical visualization of the map. The
world class also would contain information such as the current
time and weather. All other classes in the game would derive from
a positional class containing coordinate information specifying
where in the world the objects are located. These coordinates
would specify the location of objects on the world map.
<P>
The main character class would maintain information such as life
points and any items picked up during the game, such as weapons,
lanterns, keys, and so on. The character class would have methods
for moving in different directions based on the player's input.
The items carried by the character also would be objects. The
lantern class would contain information such as how much fuel
is left and whether the lantern is on or off. The lantern would
have methods for turning it on and off, which would cause it to
use up fuel.
<P>
There would be a general creature class from which all creatures
would be derived. This creature class would contain information
such as life points and how much damage the creature inflicts
when fighting. It would have methods for moving in different directions.
Unlike the character class, however, the creature's move methods
would be based on some type of intelligence programmed into the
creature class. The mean creatures might always go after the main
character if they are on the same screen together, for example,
but passive creatures might just ignore the main character. Derived
creature classes would add extra attributes, such as the capability
to swim or fly. Figure 3.4 shows the class hierarchy for this
hypothetical game.
<P>
<A HREF="f3-4.gif" ><B>Figure 3.4 : </B><I>Class hierarchy for a hypothetical adventure game.</I></A>
<P>
I've obviously left out a lot of detail in the descriptions of
these hypothetical objects. This is intentional because I want
to highlight the benefit of the object approach, not the details
of fully implementing a real example. Although you already might
see the benefits of the object design so far, the real gains come
when you put all the objects together in the context of the complete
game.
<P>
After you have designed all the object classes, you just create
objects from them and let them go. You already will have established
methods that enable the objects to interact with each other, so
in a sense the game world is autonomous. The intelligence of any
object in the game is hidden in the object implementation, so
no external manipulation is required of them. All you really must
do is provide a main game loop that updates everything. Each object
would have some method for updating its status. For creatures,
this update would entail determining the direction in which to
move and whether they should attack. For the main character object,
an update would involve performing an action based on the user
input. The key point to understand here is that the objects are
independent entities that know how to maintain themselves.
<P>
Of course, this game also could be designed using a procedural
approach, but then there would be no concept of an object linked
with its actions. You would have to model the objects as data
structures and then have a bunch of functions that act on those
structures. No function would be more associated with a particular
data structure than any other. And more importantly, the data
structures would know nothing about the functions. You also would
lose all the benefits of deriving similar objects from a common
parent object. This means that you would have duplicate code for
all these types of objects that would have to be maintained independently.
<P>
<CENTER><TABLE BORDERCOLOR=#000000 BORDER=1 WIDTH=80%>
<TR><TD><B>Note</B></TD></TR>
<TR><TD>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Procedural programming is the precursor to object oriented programming. In procedural programming, the focus to solving programmatic problems is on using blocks of code called procedures that independently act on data. This is in direct contrast to object 
oriented programming, in which procedures and data are combined in a single unit: the object.</BLOCKQUOTE>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE></CENTER>
<P>
<P>
A more dramatic benefit of using OOP becomes apparent when you
develop new games in the future. By following an OOP design in
the first game, you will be able to reuse many of the objects
for new games. This is not just a side effect of using OOP techniques,
it is a fundamental goal of OOP design. Although you can certainly
cut and paste code in a procedural approach, this hardly compares
to reusing and deriving from entire objects. As an example, the
creature class developed in the hypothetical adventure game could
be used as a base class for any kind of creature object, even
those in other games.
<P>
Although this example is brief, it should illustrate the advantages
of using an OOP design for games. If nothing else, I wanted to
at least get you thinking about how OOP design techniques can
make games easier to develop, which ultimately makes your job
more fun!
<P>
The good news about all this OOP stuff is that Java is designed
from the ground up as an OOP language. As a matter of fact, you
don't even have the option of writing procedural code in Java.
Nevertheless, it still takes effort to maintain a consistent OOP
approach when you are writing Java games, which is why I've spent
so much time today discussing OOP theory.
<H2><A NAME="JavaandOtherOOPLanguages"><B><FONT SIZE=5 COLOR=#FF0000>Java
and Other OOP Languages</FONT></B></A></H2>
<P>
You've learned that OOP has obvious advantages over procedural
approaches, especially when it comes to games. OOP was conceived
from the ground up with the intention of sim-ulating the real
world. However, in the world of game programming, the faster language
has traditionally always won. This is evident by the amount of
assembly language still being written in the commercial game-development
community. No one can argue the fact that carefully written assembly
language is faster than C, and that even more carefully written
C is sometimes faster than C++. And unfortunately, Java ranks
a distant last behind all these languages in terms of efficiency
and speed.
<P>
However, the advantages of using Java to write games stretch far
beyond the speed benefits provided by these faster languages.
This doesn't mean that Java is poised to sweep the game community
as the game development language of choice; far from it! It means
that Java provides an unprecedented array of features that scale
well to game development. The goal for Java game programmers is
to write games in the present within the speed limitations of
Java, while planning games for the future that will run well when
faster versions of Java are released.
<P>
<CENTER><TABLE BORDERCOLOR=#000000 BORDER=1 WIDTH=80%>
<TR><TD><B>Note</B></TD></TR>
<TR><TD>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
In fact two separate speed issues are involved in Java game programming. The first is the issue of the speed of the Java language and runtime environment which will no doubt improve as better compilers and more efficient versions of the runtime environment 
are released. The second issue is that of Internet connection speed which is limited by the speed of the modem or physical line used to connect to the Internet. Both of these issues are important but they impact Java games in different ways: The first 
speed limitation affects how fast a game runs while the second limitation affects how fast a game loads.</BLOCKQUOTE>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE></CENTER>
<P>
<P>
Due to languages such as Smalltalk, which treats everything as
an object (an impediment for simple problems), and their built-in
memory-allocation handling (a sometimes very slow process), OOP
languages have developed a reputation for being slow and inefficient.
C++ remedied this situation in many ways but brought with it the
pitfalls and complexities of C, which are largely undesirable
in a distributed environment such as the Internet. Java includes
many of the nicer features of C++, but incorporates them in a
more simple and robust language.
<P>
<CENTER><TABLE BORDERCOLOR=#000000 BORDER=1 WIDTH=80%>
<TR><TD><B>Note</B></TD></TR>
<TR><TD>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
For more information about exactly how Java improves C++ see appendix C &quot;Differences Between Java and C/C++.&quot;</BLOCKQUOTE>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE></CENTER>
<P>
<P>
The current drawback to using Java for developing games is the
speed of Java programs, which is significantly slower than C++
programs because Java programs execute in an interpreted fashion.
The just-in-time compilation enhancements promised in future versions
of Java should help remedy this problem. You learn about some
optimization techniques to help speed up Java code near the end
of this book on <A HREF="ch20.htm" >Day 20</A>, &quot;Optimizing
Java Code for Games.&quot;
<P>
<CENTER><TABLE BORDERCOLOR=#000000 BORDER=1 WIDTH=80%>
<TR><TD><B>Note</B></TD></TR>
<TR><TD>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Currently, Java programs are interpreted, meaning that they go through a conversion process as they are being run. Although this interpreted approach is beneficial because it allows Java programs to run on different types of computers, it greatly affects 
the speed of the programs. A promising solution to this problem is just in time compilation, which is a technique in which a Java program is compiled into an executable native to a particular type of computer before being run.</BLOCKQUOTE>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE></CENTER>
<P>
<P>
Today, Java is still not ready for prime time when it comes to
competing as a game programmer's language. It just isn't possible
yet in the current release of Java to handle the high-speed graphics
demanded by commercial games. To alleviate this problem, you have
the option of integrating native C code to Java programs. This
might or might not be a workable solution, based on the particular
needs of a game.
<P>
Regardless of whether Java can compete as a high-speed gaming
language, it is certainly capable of meeting the needs of many
other types of games that are less susceptible to speed restrictions.
The games you develop throughout this book are examples of the
types of games that can be developed in the current release of
Java.
<H2><A NAME="Summary"><B><FONT SIZE=5 COLOR=#FF0000>Summary</FONT></B></A>
</H2>
<P>
Today you learned about object-oriented programming and how it
relates to Java. You saw that the concept of an object is at the
heart of the OOP paradigm and serves as the conceptual basis for
all Java code design. You also found out exactly what an object
is, along with some of the powerful benefits of following an object-centric
design approach.
<P>
You learned in today's lesson how OOP design principles can be
applied to games. Games are a very natural application of OOP
strategies, because they typically resemble simulations. You then
learned that OOP game programming in Java is not without its drawbacks.
Execution speed is often the killer in game programming, and Java
game programming is no exception. However, future enhancements
to Java should lessen the performance gap between Java and other
popular OOP languages such as C++.
<P>
Now that the conceptual groundwork for Java game programming has
been laid, you are ready to move on to more specific game programming
issues. To be exact, you now are ready to learn about the basics
of using graphics in games, which are covered in tomorrow's lesson.
<H2><A NAME="QA"><B><FONT SIZE=5 COLOR=#FF0000>Q&amp;A</FONT></B></A>
<BR>
</H2>

<TABLE>
<TR VALIGN=TOP><TD WIDTH=50><B>Q</B></TD><TD><B>What is an object-oriented language?</B>
</TD></TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP><TD WIDTH=50><B>A</B></TD><TD>A language that supports the concept of an object, which is the merger of data and methods into a logically single element. Furthermore, object-oriented languages typically support features such as 
encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism, which combine to encourage code reuse.
</TD></TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP><TD WIDTH=50><B>Q</B></TD><TD><B>What is the difference between a class and an object?</B>
</TD></TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP><TD WIDTH=50><B>A</B></TD><TD>A class is a blueprint, or template, that defines the data and methods necessary to model a &quot;thing.&quot; An object is an instance of a class that exists in the computer's memory and can be interacted with 
much like a &quot;thing&quot; in the real world. You can create as many objects from a single class as memory will allow.
</TD></TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP><TD WIDTH=50><B>Q</B></TD><TD><B>What's the difference between a message and a method?</B>
</TD></TR>
<TR VALIGN=TOP><TD WIDTH=50><B>A</B></TD><TD>Nothing, really. &quot;Sending a message&quot; is another way of saying &quot;calling a method&quot; and is often used in more general OOP discussions.
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<H2><A NAME="Workshop"><B><FONT SIZE=5 COLOR=#FF0000>Workshop</FONT></B></A>
</H2>
<P>
The Workshop section provides questions and exercises to help
solidify the material you learned today. Try to answer the questions
and at least study the exercises before moving on to tomorrow's
lesson. You'll find the answers to the questions in appendix A,
&quot;Quiz Answers.&quot;
<H3><A NAME="Quiz"><B>Quiz</B></A></H3>
<OL>
<LI>What is an object?
<LI>What is encapsulation?
<LI>Why is implementation hiding important?
<LI>What is the major problem with Java in regard to game programming?
</OL>
<H3><A NAME="Exercises"><B>Exercises</B></A></H3>
<OL>
<LI>Develop a class hierarchy for a game idea of your own, similar
to the one created for the hypothetical adventure game.
<LI>Play some computer games, paying particular attention to how
they can each be broken down into groups of objects.
<LI>If you are a C or C++ programmer new to Java, read appendix
C, &quot;Differences Between Java and C/C++.&quot;
</OL>
<P>
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